Rolling Stone premiered the music video for the Dropkick Murphys’ latest single, “Going out in Style,” and it unsurprisingly featured a Boston theme. The Boston-based group’s newest video featured the likes of Bobby Orr, Shawn Thornton and Milan Lucic.

Orr smiles at the camera and throws snowballs, while Thornton can be seen at the bar taking shots with NESN’s Heidi Watney. Lucic sings along and falls victim to a snowball. Red Sox third basemanKevin Youkilis is also in the video singing along.

The song contains some choice lyrics, so we’ll link to it rather than posting the video.

By Jerry Spar | Comments Off on Shawn Thornton on D&H: Tomas Kaberle ‘one of the best defensemen in the league’

Bruins forward Shawn Thornton, while on his way to the airport for the Bruins’ road trip that starts with a game Tuesday in Calgary, checked in with the Dale & Holley show Monday and talked about the team’s recent roster changes. To hear the interview, go to the Dale & Holley audio on demand page.

Asked if there was any tension around the team last week, Thornton acknowledged that there was. “There always is this time of year,” he said. “The media obviously reports it. I think it gets worse these days, with ‘I’m not bad-mouthing anybody, but ‘ countless blogs and stuff that nobody really has to [be accountable]. You can just throw stuff against the wall and hope it sticks. There’s a lot of names being thrown around nowadays. I think everybody’s hoping that they get one right. So, yeah, there’s a little bit of tension. I think the best thing to do is not try to pay too much attention to it.”

Thornton had high praise for new Bruins Tomas Kaberle, Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley. “I’ve known Tomas for a long time,” he said. “We were in the minors together for a little bit, actually. The way he moves the puck and the way he sees the ice when he has the puck ‘ even without it ‘ he’s such a smart player. He’s one of the best defensemen in the league, and I think we’re very, very fortunate to have him.”

Of Kelly, Thornton said: “He can skate, he can shoot, he competes really hard. I think he’s a good pickup for us.”

Thornton said the adjustment period for the new Bruins shouldn’t be long, especially considering their age and the fact that Peverley comes from Atlanta, where first-year Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay is using a style similar to the one used when Ramsay was an assistant in Boston the past three seasons. “I think it should be pretty seamless, being that they’re older guys,” Thornton said. “Kelly, Peverly, Kaberle ‘ they’ve all been around the league a bunch. ‘¦ The fact that Kelly’s been in the league for six, seven years makes it a little easier than being maybe 20 or 21.”

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas challenged Canadiens netminder Carey Price to a fight when the teams met in Boston earlier this month. While it didn’t go so well for Thomas, Thornton was impressed with the effort and strategy. “His game plan was pretty good for a guy fighting somebody a lot bigger,” Thornton said. “I’ve actually used his game plan before. But when you miss your grab on the way in, sometimes it goes all out the window. And it did for him. But you know what? He did a good job. He protected himself well.

“He’ll be the first to tell you it wasn’t much of a fight. But that was the loudest I’ve heard the Garden I think in a long time, when those two squared off. It was pretty fun.”

By DJ Bean | Comments Off on Gameday notes: Bruins looking for first win vs. Habs

With the Canadiens in town on Wednesday, a regulation win for either team means a four-point swing in the standings. With the Bruins leading the Habs by two points, that means a ton right now.

The unfortunate thing for the Bruins is that they have yet to win against the Canadiens this season, going 0-2-1 in their three games and blowing a 2-0 lead late in the third period Jan. 8 en route to a 3-2 overtime loss.

“It’s a long season,” Shawn Thornton said of the B’s lack of success against the rival Habs. “The last game in there we definitely should have won. ‘¦ We had a couple of breakdowns, they ended up pulling it out late, and give credit to them for not giving up, but it’s a long season. We’ve got three more against them, and hopefully we can do some damage control.”

The Canadiens are coming off a 4-1 loss to the Devils on Sunday. Here are a few other notes:

– In case you haven’t seen it yet, Tyler Seguinis a healthy scratch for the Bruins. It’s technically the second time he’s been a “healthy” scratch, with the team listing flu-like symptoms as the reason he didn’t play on Dec. 11 against the Flyers. Zach Hamill and Jordan Caron are both in the lineup playing on the third and fourth line, respectively.

– Patrice Bergeron, who left Tuesday’s practice and had to go to the hospital for stitches after getting a puck to the face, is fine and will play Wednesday. Mark Recchi andZdeno Chara were not on the ice for morning skate but were just given the morning off to rest. They’ll both play as well.

– It looks like the recent exchange between former Bruin Hal Gill and rookie P.K. Subban in which Gill called the fellow blueliner an “a–hole” over his treatment of the team’s jersey was blown way out of proportion. Members of the Montreal media here who observed the exchange are saying the it was very obviously a joke after Gil accused Subban of “throwing” the Habs’ jersey on the ground while getting undressed.

– Speaking of Subban, Tuesday will be his first game at the Garden since destroying Brad Marchand with a very clean but very hard hit in Montreal on Dec. 16. Subban’s done some damage against the Bruins, as he has a goal and an assist against them this season in addition to the hit that kept Marchand out for three games with “soreness.” The Gregory Campbell penalty he drew following the hit also led to a power play goal.

“I’d like him to elevate it all the time. It’s something that I think he strives to be consistent, and I think he’s a good player, but he’s got the ability to be a great player. When he’s given that challenge he seems to rise to that occasion.”

By Mike Petraglia | Comments Off on How the Bruins have become Team Unity, and why it matters

Just four minutes into Thursday’s slugfest at the Garden, Stars forward Adam Burish came in on Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask and fired a shot several seconds after the whistle had clearly blown, stopping play.

That is a big hockey no-no.

And Andrew Ference made sure Burish paid the penalty. The Bruins defenseman came over to enforce the hockey the law, eventually drawing Burish into a fight ‘ which Ference clearly won ‘ and a message had been sent. Don’t mess with these Bruins or you pay the price, especially on Boston’s home ice.

“We’re a tight group,” said Patrice Bergeron, who scored twice and assisted on an empty-netter. “We’ve always said that and we all know that. We’re ‘¦ we get along real well off the ice and we try to bring that on the ice. I think that Ference fight is the best example just by showing that he took a shot after the whistle on Tuukka and Andy responded right away. So I think it’s ‘¦ it showed our unity, and we’ve got to keep going.”

As for Ference himself, he said Thursday’s win showed how the Bruins can get back to being the right mix of talent and toughness, just like 2008-09, when they were the top seed in the East and a favorite to get to the Stanley Cup finals.

“One of the good things we did in that year, and something we’ve established over the last few is, when our team is emotionally and physically involved, we’re a very good team,” Ference said. “We’ve proven that the other way around, too. When it’s not there, we lose games. You know, go back to the Carolina series a couple years ago. I think that’s what almost all of us pointed our fingers at, it was missing. We know that that has to be there for us to be successful, and it was good [against Dallas].”

“It was an opportunity for us to step up for each other, and we did and I thought it certainly played in our favor,” Julien said of the four fights in four minutes ‘ three in the opening four seconds. “We’re a team that can handle that and guys seem to be ready for it and certainly that part of it was good. Those two quick goals also were proof that we were ready to play.” Read the rest of this entry »

Three fights in the first four seconds, a goalie change in the first 80 seconds, and a 6-3 Bruins’ victory after 3,600 seconds. Boston has to like that result.

The Bruins played a hard-fought (literally) game on Thursday behind lots of fighting majors and timely scoring. Patrice Bergeron had two first-period goals for the B’s, with Milan Lucicopening the scoring and Shawn Thorntonalso scoring in the first. Tyler Seguin provided the B’s with an important goal after the team, leading 4-0 in the second period, allowed three unanswered goals.

Gregory Campbell, who was cheap-shotted by Steve Ott two years ago while Campbell was still a member of the Panthers, clearly didn’t forget about their history. He was the first of the Bruins players to drop the gloves, as he squared off with Ott just one second into the game. Ott tossed him a pretty good beating, though, and Campbell left the ice bloodied. He did return to the game later in the period. Shawn Thornton and Adam McQuaid also fought for the B’s two and four seconds into the game, respectively. Andrew Ference fought Adam Burish at 3:51.

With the Bruins leading 4-0 after the first period, the Stars outshot the B’s 16-9 in the second period and got three pucks past Tuukka Rask, courtesy of Karlis Skrastins, Brenden Morrow, and Brad Richardsover the course of the final two periods. Seguin put the game out of reach with his eighth goal of the season, while Brad Marchand scored an empty netter after Bergeron hit the side of the net going for the hat trick.

Tuukka Rask earned the victory for the Bruins and improved his , The Stars went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Bruins were 0-for-4.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

– Any time there’s a fight off the opening draw, the crowd is going to go crazy. But two fights in the first two seconds? Three in the first four? Needless to say, the Garden was rocking, especially since Shawn Thornton and Adam McQuaid scored decisive victories in the latter two bouts. Milan Lucic made sure the energy boost didn’t go to waste by scoring 35 seconds into the game when he took in a pass from David Krejci and beat Andrew Raycroft with a wrester. Patrice Bergeron kept the wave of momentum going when he tipped home a Brad Marchand centering pass 45 seconds later. From there, the Raycroft’s night was done.

– Seguin redeemed himself in a big way in the third period. It had been nine games without a point for the second overall pick, and he was coming off perhaps his worst showing of the season Tuesday in Carolina. Seguin didn’t get off to a great start Thursday, as he seemed to be treading water between Adam Burish and Skrastins on the Stars’ first goal in the second period, but his third-period goal gave the Bruins some much-needed breathing room.

– How’s this for a crazy one from the WEEI.com stat truck: Thursday was the second time this season that Shawn Thornton has dropped the gloves two seconds into a game and scored. The other time, of course, was on Dec. 23 against the Thrashers, when Thornton fought Eric Boulton and scored two goals in the Bruins’ victory.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

– Daniel Paille laid a very dirty hit on Stars forward Raymond Sawada in the second period. Paille lined Sawada up from a good 10 feet away and left his feet for a blindside shoulder to the ear that left Sawada slow to get up. He was handed a five minute major and match penalty for a head shot.

It’s very difficult to see how Paille doesn’t get suspended for the play, as the match penalty carries a suspension pending review. That’s exactly the type of play the NHL is trying to get rid of, and Paille will have to answer to the league.

– The Bruins appeared to take a 5-0 lead 4:10 into the second when McQuaid fired through a Blake Wheeler screen for what would’ve been his second career goal. Instead, the goal was waved off and Wheeler was sent to the box for a goaltender interference call that was questionable at best. Wheeler had himself planted a good foot outside the crease and it appeared that Kari Lehtonen was the one who initiated contact by coming out of his crease.

– The Bruins won just 22 of the game’s 64 faceoffs. All four of Boston’s starting centers failed to win 50 percent of their draws. Blake Wheeler was the biggest culprit as he went four of 16, while Patrice Bergeron won just seven of 20, Gregory Campbell four of 10, and David Krejci six of 14.

A lot of skaters saw the penalty box, and a starting goaltender saw the bench very early on as the Bruins outmuscled and outscored the Stars in the first period to the tune of a 4-0 lead.

An astonishing three fights took place in the first four seconds of the game, while Andrew Raycroft, starting in an exciting matchup against Tuukka Rask was pulled from the game after only 1:20.

Gregory Campbelldropped the gloves off the face-off with Steve Ott, and their tango just one second into the contest made for the quickest into a game this season that a Bruin has tangoed with an opponent. Campbell was bloodied and left the ice for the locker room. He would return later in the period.

The guy who previously held the distinction of quickest to get in a fight for the B’s this season,Shawn Thornton, wasn’t to be outdone. He fought Krystofer Barch one second later (the second time this season he dropped the gloves two seconds into the first period, Dec. 23 vs. Thrashers). Adam McQuaid did the twist with Bryan Sutherby two seconds later, with Andrew Ference and Adam

Thirty-one seconds after McQuaid’s fight (and still just 35 seconds into the game), Milan Lucic opened the scoring for the Bruins when he beat Raycroft with a wrist shot for his 21st goal of the season.

Forty-five seconds later,Brad Marchand took a pass from Mark Recchiand fired a shot from the top of the circle. Patrice Bergeronredirected it past Raycroft, ending his night after just 80 seconds. Bergeron would score his second goal of the night with 10:25 remaining in the first. The 25-year-old picked up his 19th of the season when Marchand returned his pass in offensive zone to set up the goal.

Thornton beat Kari Lehtonen top left corner with an absolute lacerate 16:01 for his eighth goal of the season. It is the second time he has fought two seconds into the first and also scored in a game, as he had two goals on Dec. 23.